The Relationship Between REM Sleep And Memory
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the correlational method as a means for examining the relationship between REM sleep and memory. I will describe previous research and then investigate how REM and memory are associated in young people and in older people. In some ways, the sleep patterns of these two groups are very similar, but in some ways they are not. 1a) In a normal brain, the period of deep sleep is the first half of sleep and the period of REM sleep is the second half of sleep. The person would return back to the stages 3 and 2 and afterwards to the REM sleep for staying twenty minutes in a stage four. This is a cyclic process and stages repeat after every ninety minutes but the changes in the stages are going through the
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whole night. Throughout the night, REM sleep is getting longer; on the other hand, deep sleep is getting shorter and shorter by every passing moment. When we woke up, we have spent twenty to twenty five percent of our sleep in a REM sleep. Elderly individual gets less deep sleep then the young individuals who get more of the deep sleep. Young individuals have a lot of time resting in comparison with the elderly, who have small intervals of rest and these intervals are very short.1b) According to the studies, genital arousal happens in between REM sleep and it is not limited to one gender it happens to both genders. Women experience a vaginal lubrication; on the other hand, men experience an erection. Sometimes the period of REM sleep is shorter in men then the arousal, which they have due to the REM sleep. Young adults and elderly in accordance to genital arousal have a great difference. Young adults acknowledge arousal partially in their sleep while elderly adults acknowledge arousal, which excludes 1/4th of their sleep. In addition to this, the arousals made an elderly adult to wake up. 1c) According to researchers, there is a difference in EEG waves throughout the different stages of sleep. Though conscious adults demonstrates alpha waves, high-amplitude represent non-REM sleep and low-amplitude higher frequency beta waves represents REM sleep. The studies of deep sleep in older and younger adults about frequency and duration of different types of waves show that deep sleep reduces in the elderly. 1d) The time we awake we represents the circadian rhythm by different periods of attentiveness and tiredness. Any sort of change in this rhythm has unfavorable outcomes on our thinking and memory, nonetheless on the amount of sleep. As we grew older, our cardiac rhythm changes and we go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier in addition to multiple naps during the day, as REM sleeps potential, general tiredness takes over. Several previous research studies have pointed to the importance of REM sleep in forming new memories.
However, a complete understanding of the roles of REM and non-REM sleep in learning and memory has been elusive. 2a) First, piece of evidence is that REM sleep is important to strengthen learning after studying because it reestablishes the neural activity. The second piece of evidence is that anything that exceeds the limits of the brain, brain will not reminisce that. According to Pierre Maquet, there is a reduction in a capacity of REM sleep to learn new schemes. On the other side, NREM sleep does not have the similar consequences.2b) Animals that are kept away from sleeping do not learn. It is because the neural activity that is established when awake seems to be restored when asleep. In addition to that, stress is also an important factor of increase in REM sleep in animals. Therefore, it is substantial that REM sleep recovers the learning processes. 2c) Acetylcholine is the one neurotransmitter that improves learning after REM sleep. On the other side, researchers knows about acetylcholine affects on learning, by experimental data that has shown it has increased cortical plasticity in adult mammals. In addition to that, acetylcholine also regulates the molecular mechanisms of memory steadiness and securement. Scopolamine, which is the antagonist of acetylcholine, was given to rats and shows that it reduces the subsequent performance on …show more content…
the avoidance task.
Figure 1 The architecture of sleep is different between the young and the old (see Figure 1).
Differences between groups in the amount and quality of REM may predict differences in learning. It is conceivable that the relationship between learning and REM is stronger in the young than in the old. 3a) The first and foremost difference in sleep architecture among young and elderly is that young adults gets lengthier levels of each sleep stage however the elderly does not. In addition to that, the elderly wake up more habitually and unable to enter stage four of sleep. Elderly reaches up to stage three of sleep. Hence, the total time they spent in any phase is going to reduced. The above figure shows that there are more shifts between stages for the elderly in contrast to young adults. 3b) Insomnia, physical illness, medications, nocturia, sleep apnea, increased daytime sleepiness makes older people vulnerable and due to these conditions, they face difficulty for falling in sleep.3c) REM might have a less important role in learning in older brains than in younger brains because brain plasticity goes down over a lifetime. But older people tends to have more neural connections therefore they are not in a need of REM to learn.3d) The correlational method helps to determine the relationship between two variables. In this specific condition, examining the correlation among the amount of time spent in REM and memory performance resulting how much time in sleep spend by
young adults and elderly. That will show the distinct correlation between two groups. Data were collected from a group of young people and a group of older people who first learned a list of non-words to test the hypothesis using the correlational method. Each participant was measured on: (1) total time spent asleep, (2) duration of REM sleep, and (3) percentage accuracy in learning the list of non-words.4a) Elderly had a more deviation in sleep stages, as per according to data, time of sleep (4200) and REM duration (750) in elderly however young adults spent more time asleep (4,814) and REM duration (1,034). 4b) Therefore, if controlling hypothesis which is REM sleep is strongly connected to learning in young adults than the elderly, so we can assumed the following: Firstly, there will be a strong positive correlation among REM duration and memory scores in young adults. Secondly, that correlation will be way stronger than the correlation between time of sleep and memory scores in young adults, moreover the correlation between REM duration and memory scores in older participants. There are a lot more chances of correlation between time asleep and memory score will be higher than the correlation between REM duration and memory score in elderly. 4c) In elderly and young adults the computed values are as follows:
Young I II III r
Sleep & Mem 483424 12636 16268 0.2081446494
REM & Mem 34504 12636 19468 0.9323560781
Sleep & REM 483424 34504 3924 0.03038296633
Old
Sleep & Mem 2201020 40965 278300 0.9268185816
REM & Mem 109940 40965 6180 0.09208823076
Sleep & REM 2201020 109940 139460 0.2835043978
The results of the correlational method were valuable in addressing the hypothesis under study. However, future investigations may need to adopt techniques that improve upon those used here.5a) According to the hypothesis the relationship between REM sleep and learning is certainly greater in young adults than the elderly. The results of the experiment are coherent with the hypothesis since the correlation between REM duration and memory score is 0.9 for the young adults and 0.09 for the elderly. Consequently, this shows the strong relationship in REM and memory in young adults.5b) The aspect which was unexpected was the difference in figures for elderly. The correlation between the total sleep time and memory score is greater in elderly in contrast with young adults. 5c) A technique that could be useful to advance this study if we have participant from each group who have same sleeping times, we can measure the time the will spent in all stages, it will be helpful in studying distinctive issues such as sleeping disorder, insomnia, narcolepsy. 5d) Correlational studies and experimental studies both can be useful to estimate hypothesis. Experimental studies helps to understand cause and effect among variables. On the other side, correlational studies help to understand the relationship between two variables.5e) Stress is a very big issue now days. Everyone is stressing over something. We can designed an experiment to test stress level in young adults and elderly with the help of this hypothesis and then we can conclude that who’s REM sleep is greatly affected due to the stress, elderly or young adults.
whole night. Throughout the night, REM sleep is getting longer; on the other hand, deep sleep is getting shorter and shorter by every passing moment. When we woke up, we have spent twenty to twenty five percent of our sleep in a REM sleep. Elderly individual gets less deep sleep then the young individuals who get more of the deep sleep. Young individuals have a lot of time resting in comparison with the elderly, who have small intervals of rest and these intervals are very short.1b) According to the studies, genital arousal happens in between REM sleep and it is not limited to one gender it happens to both genders. Women experience a vaginal lubrication; on the other hand, men experience an erection. Sometimes the period of REM sleep is shorter in men then the arousal, which they have due to the REM sleep. Young adults and elderly in accordance to genital arousal have a great difference. Young adults acknowledge arousal partially in their sleep while elderly adults acknowledge arousal, which excludes 1/4th of their sleep. In addition to this, the arousals made an elderly adult to wake up. 1c) According to researchers, there is a difference in EEG waves throughout the different stages of sleep. Though conscious adults demonstrates alpha waves, high-amplitude represent non-REM sleep and low-amplitude higher frequency beta waves represents REM sleep. The studies of deep sleep in older and younger adults about frequency and duration of different types of waves show that deep sleep reduces in the elderly. 1d) The time we awake we represents the circadian rhythm by different periods of attentiveness and tiredness. Any sort of change in this rhythm has unfavorable outcomes on our thinking and memory, nonetheless on the amount of sleep. As we grew older, our cardiac rhythm changes and we go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier in addition to multiple naps during the day, as REM sleeps potential, general tiredness takes over. Several previous research studies have pointed to the importance of REM sleep in forming new memories.
However, a complete understanding of the roles of REM and non-REM sleep in learning and memory has been elusive. 2a) First, piece of evidence is that REM sleep is important to strengthen learning after studying because it reestablishes the neural activity. The second piece of evidence is that anything that exceeds the limits of the brain, brain will not reminisce that. According to Pierre Maquet, there is a reduction in a capacity of REM sleep to learn new schemes. On the other side, NREM sleep does not have the similar consequences.2b) Animals that are kept away from sleeping do not learn. It is because the neural activity that is established when awake seems to be restored when asleep. In addition to that, stress is also an important factor of increase in REM sleep in animals. Therefore, it is substantial that REM sleep recovers the learning processes. 2c) Acetylcholine is the one neurotransmitter that improves learning after REM sleep. On the other side, researchers knows about acetylcholine affects on learning, by experimental data that has shown it has increased cortical plasticity in adult mammals. In addition to that, acetylcholine also regulates the molecular mechanisms of memory steadiness and securement. Scopolamine, which is the antagonist of acetylcholine, was given to rats and shows that it reduces the subsequent performance on …show more content…
the avoidance task.
Figure 1 The architecture of sleep is different between the young and the old (see Figure 1).
Differences between groups in the amount and quality of REM may predict differences in learning. It is conceivable that the relationship between learning and REM is stronger in the young than in the old. 3a) The first and foremost difference in sleep architecture among young and elderly is that young adults gets lengthier levels of each sleep stage however the elderly does not. In addition to that, the elderly wake up more habitually and unable to enter stage four of sleep. Elderly reaches up to stage three of sleep. Hence, the total time they spent in any phase is going to reduced. The above figure shows that there are more shifts between stages for the elderly in contrast to young adults. 3b) Insomnia, physical illness, medications, nocturia, sleep apnea, increased daytime sleepiness makes older people vulnerable and due to these conditions, they face difficulty for falling in sleep.3c) REM might have a less important role in learning in older brains than in younger brains because brain plasticity goes down over a lifetime. But older people tends to have more neural connections therefore they are not in a need of REM to learn.3d) The correlational method helps to determine the relationship between two variables. In this specific condition, examining the correlation among the amount of time spent in REM and memory performance resulting how much time in sleep spend by
young adults and elderly. That will show the distinct correlation between two groups. Data were collected from a group of young people and a group of older people who first learned a list of non-words to test the hypothesis using the correlational method. Each participant was measured on: (1) total time spent asleep, (2) duration of REM sleep, and (3) percentage accuracy in learning the list of non-words.4a) Elderly had a more deviation in sleep stages, as per according to data, time of sleep (4200) and REM duration (750) in elderly however young adults spent more time asleep (4,814) and REM duration (1,034). 4b) Therefore, if controlling hypothesis which is REM sleep is strongly connected to learning in young adults than the elderly, so we can assumed the following: Firstly, there will be a strong positive correlation among REM duration and memory scores in young adults. Secondly, that correlation will be way stronger than the correlation between time of sleep and memory scores in young adults, moreover the correlation between REM duration and memory scores in older participants. There are a lot more chances of correlation between time asleep and memory score will be higher than the correlation between REM duration and memory score in elderly. 4c) In elderly and young adults the computed values are as follows:
Young I II III r
Sleep & Mem 483424 12636 16268 0.2081446494
REM & Mem 34504 12636 19468 0.9323560781
Sleep & REM 483424 34504 3924 0.03038296633
Old
Sleep & Mem 2201020 40965 278300 0.9268185816
REM & Mem 109940 40965 6180 0.09208823076
Sleep & REM 2201020 109940 139460 0.2835043978
The results of the correlational method were valuable in addressing the hypothesis under study. However, future investigations may need to adopt techniques that improve upon those used here.5a) According to the hypothesis the relationship between REM sleep and learning is certainly greater in young adults than the elderly. The results of the experiment are coherent with the hypothesis since the correlation between REM duration and memory score is 0.9 for the young adults and 0.09 for the elderly. Consequently, this shows the strong relationship in REM and memory in young adults.5b) The aspect which was unexpected was the difference in figures for elderly. The correlation between the total sleep time and memory score is greater in elderly in contrast with young adults. 5c) A technique that could be useful to advance this study if we have participant from each group who have same sleeping times, we can measure the time the will spent in all stages, it will be helpful in studying distinctive issues such as sleeping disorder, insomnia, narcolepsy. 5d) Correlational studies and experimental studies both can be useful to estimate hypothesis. Experimental studies helps to understand cause and effect among variables. On the other side, correlational studies help to understand the relationship between two variables.5e) Stress is a very big issue now days. Everyone is stressing over something. We can designed an experiment to test stress level in young adults and elderly with the help of this hypothesis and then we can conclude that who’s REM sleep is greatly affected due to the stress, elderly or young adults.